Stamps' momentum, big plays key to win

Calgary shocks Lions in B.C. to advance to Grey Cup

VANCOUVER -- The Calgary Stampeders' 2012 joyride will take them all the way to Toronto for the 100th Grey Cup -- and Kevin Glenn will go along for the ride for the first time in his career.

Glenn, whose only previous taste of the Grey Cup came in 2007, wearing street clothes on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers sideline with his arm in a cast after it was broken in the East Division final a week earlier, engineered arguably the biggest win of his 12-year pro career on Sunday afternoon at BC Place Stadium, throwing three touchdown passes in the Stamps' 34-29 win over the reigning Grey Cup champion B.C. Lions.

With the victory in front of a boisterous crowd of 43,216, the Stamps advance to the Grey Cup next Sunday against the Toronto Argonauts, looking for their second Canadian Football League championship in John Hufnagel's five-year tenure as coach and general manager, and their first since 2008.

"That's a great team and a great defence," said Glenn, who finished 15-for-24 for 303 yards. "I mean, they're good and they show it. For us to get a win against them in this house is big for us. Big. But the biggest one is next week."

Glenn will get the headlines, and deservedly so, for throwing touchdown passes to Marquay McDaniel (68 yards on the game's second play), Maurice Price (29 yards) and Romby Bryant (57 yards), as well as for shaking off what could have been a disastrous pick-six interception in the first quarter when Korey Banks stepped in front of a pass intended for Jabari Arthur and took it back 68 yards for a game-tying touchdowns.

But every phase of the Stampeder 42-man roster played a role and should take a bow as the Stamps pack their bags on Monday in preparation for Tuesday's trip to Toronto.

Defence, in particular, was huge as the Lions didn't score an offensive touchdown until the games final minute when Travis Lulay connected with Nick Moore.

"You can't say enough about what we did today," said Stamps safety Eric Fraser. "The offence was big, too; the offence had big touchdowns. But to hold those guys to (five) field goals until the last minute of the game? You know what? That says a lot about the group of guys we have here. It's just unbelievable."

The Stamps couldn't have asked for a better start; a blown B.C. coverage on Calgary's second play from scrimmage left McDaniel wide open in the middle field with no Lions within 20 yards of him.

"We knew they were going to be aggressive (on defence) and we knew we had to make big plays. And that's what we came out and did," said McDaniel. "I don't think you leave a receiver wide open running down the field. Somebody messed up somewhere. In my whole football career, I've never had something like that. That was huge."

So, too, was the Bryant touchdown, which gave the Stamps some breathing room after B.C. had closed to within one point (17-16) at halftime.

But the killer was later in the third, when backup Bo Levi Mitchell came in for a third-and-one gamble, faked a handoff to Jon Cornish and heaved the ball downfield for Price, who was hauled down at the one-yard line for a 42-yard gain.

Mitchell then took three attempts to push it over for the touchdown.

"Ridiculous call," chortled injured Stamps quarterback Drew Tate. " Couldn't have been a better call at the right time. And Bo is going to make the plays."

The Lions had their following two drives end in field goals, summing up a frustrating afternoon for the team that sported the season's best regular-season record (13-5).

"That team wasn't better than us," Lions running back Andrew Harris told reporters. "That's the thing that stings the most. We got beat by a team that's not better than us. It was a lack of intensity, a lack of execution. We just didn't rise to the occasion. That team isn't even as close to as good as us. We just dropped the ball today."

That would be one perspective; the other would be that the Stamps had confidence and momentum (Sunday's was their sixth straight victory) going for them and simply played better.

"We just had to go out there and play hard," said defensive back Brandon Smith in the jubilant Calgary locker-room.

"We all made the commitment to buy in and cash in all of the hard work we put in all season. They're a great team, but when it was time to stand, we all banded together and came up with stops. We knew they couldn't win games with field goals."

"Nobody gave us a shot," added Price, who finished with seven catches for 117 yards. "Everybody pegged B.C. as the class of the league, which I can understand. But we knew we were the hungrier team, and we came in here and got it done."

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